The present invention broadly relates to fiber-processing machines or installations comprising a plurality of different fiber-processing stages, and, more specifically, is concerned with an improved method and means for effecting a controllable change in the production of the fiber-processing machine or installation.
A short-staple spinning mill comprises a plurality of such fiber-processing stages between the bale store and the bobbin packing room or the bobbin conveyor system. In the "downstream" stages, normally after the card room the fibers are processed in the form of an elongate cohesive structure (a sliver, roving or yarn), while in the "upstream" stages the fibers are processed in different non-cohesive or relatively coarse forms, e.g. flying freely, in the form of a lap, in bales, and so on.
It is a well known fact that the "treatment" of the fibers in these upstream stages has a considerable influence on the quality of the end product. It is also well known that this "treatment" is dependent upon the throughflow per unit of time (the "production") in each processing stage, and this has led to attempts to render production as uniform as possible in the course of time by "continuous" operation of the installation and to achieve a better quality (for example, degree of cleaning) on average.
The problem, however, is that small inevitable changes in production cannot readily be compensated for, so that the on average better quality is obtained at the expense of small--but nevertheless unpleasant--variations in quality.